Gunpowder & Lead

One

Amelia surprises me when she speaks up first. "We need a pomegranate scone, Mrs. Seresin."

If I wasn't already sitting down, I would have fallen flat on my ass at her statement. There's no way she knows about what really goes down in the Underworld, we keep it wrapped up tight during the daylight and are careful to make sure nobody overhears any conversations with potential clients. It takes a lot to fluster me, and I'm almost surprised with myself when I stumble over my reply. "Oh, uh...Mel...we don't have those available at the moment."

"Natasaha sent us," Penny's voice is rough as she replies. "She was dropping off something for one of the paralegals as a surprise from her boyfriend when she saw Amelia sitting in the car. I was inside, confronting Pete about his most recent affair, telling him that Amelia and I were leaving. I was so angry that the adrenaline presented itself as courage when I knew better than to speak out. My mom always said 'don't leave mad, just leave.' I should have taken that advice."

My brain buffers as I process what she's telling me. Why didn't Nat give us a heads up that they were coming like we all do with "direct referrals"?

"Miss Nat saw me in the car crying and tapped on my window. I was...I was the one who discovered dad was cheating on mom. I went into his office looking for a spare charger for my MacBook when I noticed his desktop was unlocked. I didn't mean to, but a notification came through and pulled his messages up. I took pictures on my phone and ran out like I was never there before he got back from the bathroom. I showed mom after dad had left for the day and we started packing immediately. I told Miss Nat what happened, that mom was inside telling dad we were leaving. She told me to tell my mom to bring me here and ask for a pomegranate scone. She said that y'all had a team that would hide us and protect us from dad. I don't know what happened after that, but she went inside and mom came running out a couple minutes later. Now here we are."

I'm blown away by how strong Amelia is, and my heart breaks at the same time as I watch tears steadily roll down her face as she explains what she knows. She curls further into her mom's side, finding comfort in the arms of her mom.

Penny clears her throat before continuing. "Pete had landed a pretty solid hit on me when we heard Natasha come in the door. He shoved me into the bathroom so she wouldn't see my injured face and I slipped out of the window and ran to the car while he was distracted. Nat saved our lives tonight..." she trails off, holding back more tears.

I move to wrap them both in a hug and Birdie does the same. "You're here and you're safe now. We've got you. Let's get y'all downstairs and into bed. You two get a good night's sleep and then we'll talk more tomorrow, how does that sound?" Penny nods her agreement, and we all make our way to the secret elevator leading to Safe Haven, the shelter we've put our hearts and souls into building. "Our operation is...a lot bigger than you think. You'll see some familiar faces around while you're down here, but I promise we'll keep you safe."

An hour or so later, the girls are settled into their apartment for the night and Penny has a burner phone on hand with instructions to call me when she's ready to talk. Birdie has filled the group in on the situation; Erin is dropping Penny's car off in the impound lot while Addie fiddles with the car's tracking system. She'll make it look like they drove towards the border then disable the system all together. It's a wild goose chase we send the more...affluent offenders on. Most normal guys don't have the intelligence or the means to track the car of a runaway spouse, but Pete Mitchell has both of those things in spades. We quickly agree that no matter what Penny and Amelia decide to do, we will bring Mayor Mitchell to his knees. This is what we were made to do; remove corrupt men from power. Suddenly, I realize that the banquet is now a solution instead of a problem. As much as I hate it, I'll absolutely be going and using the opportunity to gather intel on who I now consider Public Enemy #1.